Star Wars - Dark Times: Infiltrator
Star Wars - Dark Times: Infiltrator is the first series in the Shadow Rebellion series of the Star Wars - Dark Times series written by MasterNoomiZ. This is the first Dark Times story that does not involve Kaleth Horn as the main character and focuspoint. This story takes place after Rogue One but before the events of Battlefront II: Inferno Squad. It consists of five issues and will premier after the conclusion of Star Wars - Bria Tharen: Chapter 1. Issues Issue 1: Infiltrator #1 Empire Day was taking place on the planet Botaan and people were being pushed onto the street by Imperial Stormtroopers to cheer for the parade of the might of the Imperial military. The governor of the planet, Jirec Sann was present too and he adored how the crowd was being punished and pushed as puppets of the Empire. He was being joined by Agent Streeve who informed him of a report that had come to his ears about possible rebel insurgents that were near the main capital, but Governor Sann pays no attention to it. At that point explosions rock the grounds on which the parade takes place. People flee in fear as large holograms around the place are being activated and the face of Leia Organa appears as the voice of the Rebel Alliance that had taken up open war against the Galactic Empire. Governor Sann demands that the source of the disturbance must be found immediately and Agent Streeve takes the investigation upon himself. Leading the ISB troops into the city, they raided a few known safehouses that were known to be hideouts of Rebel sympathisers, but no-one was found there. A rookie agent by the name of Garr Maccon however traveled into one of the houses by himself and was met by a single person. This person was proven to be a match for Agent Maccon and his Stormtroopers, defeating them with ease, revealing himself to be a Guardian of the Whills and one of the last remaining members of the old Temple of the Whills on Jedha. As Agent Maccon fled from the house, alerting Agent Streeve on what happened, the Guardian recognizes a strange sense with the young agent as he too disappeared from the city. Governor Sann orders his men to raid the houses of all food supplies and mechanical hardware in order to punish the population and draw out the insurgents, which happens under the watchful eye of the Guardian who fought Agent Maccon earlier. The Guardian was then contacted through a comlink by none other then Lux Bonteri who called himself The Mentor, asking whether he has found a way in and the Guardian informs him that he believes he has. Bonteri then adresses the Guardian by his full name Kian Shun and says they require the access for their strike at the Empire. Shun then disapears from the roof of the building and blends into the crowd. Issue 2: Infiltrator #2 Former Guardian of the Whills Kian Shun manages to hide himself in a dark chamber where he starts meditating. At the same time, Agent Garr Maccon is debriefed by Agent Streeve and Governor Jirec Sann. While Agent Streeve is more interested in the intel he gathered, Governor Sann wants Maccon court martialed for having been unable to kill an insurgent. Streeve allows Maccon to go on his duty to find weak spots in the Imperial defense. As he does so, he discovers a possible weak spot in the technician named Del Meeko, but after some careful interrogation, he is able to say that Meeko is not part of the insurgency. He relays this to Streeve and then finds out that a group of ID-9 Scan Droids are under the control of the insurgents when one of them is found in a forbidden area. Streeve orders the shutdown of all working droids, but this triggers a self destruct sequence which both of them and Governor Sann barely escape. At that point Kian is contacted by The Mentor informing him of the loss of assets, but Kian believes the oppurtunity to strike again will present itself. Knowing he can't stop the insurgents acting on a giving of Kian, The Mentor warns him of this. Indeed, a weak spot in an outer wall is exposed and utilized by the insurgents using a captured TX-225 Occupier Tank blasting it apart and flooding the complex' lower levels. Streeve and Maccon arrive to fight against the insurgents but the guarding Stormtroopers are initially overwhelmed. At the other side Kian arrives, ordering the insurgents to stand down as they will only bring more doom over the planet Botaan, but he is forced into the fight when the Empire closes the perimeter around them. Ultimately the insurgents are overwhelmed and Streeve orders a direct execution of them. Upon closer inspection, Maccon realizes the former Guardian is already gone, suspecting he was there before, while seeing the execution of the insurgents. In the end Kian scolds The Mentor for the reckless attack on the palace, but The Mentor says the attack allowed them to set a new plan into motion, as revealed is a Stormtrooper in the complex, but built out of robotics and releasing a swarm of new ID-9s, calling itself TK-XTERM, a holodroid with the capacity to launch independent ID-9 Issue 3: Infiltrator #3 With TK-XTERM roaming the complex on Botaan, Kian Shun and The Mentor have a look on the inside, but Shun is more hesitant with the free action the insurgents have been allowed to have on Botaan. In the meantime Garr Maccon further investigates the site where the insurgents had broken through the wall and request to learn how the insurgents got their hands on a TX-225 Occupier Tank. From the records he learns that the insurgents fought at the Battle of Bota, the major battle that caused the planet Botaan to fall to the Empire, first being a fierce struggle between the insurgents and the Botaan Imperial Society and later the Galactic Empire. Seeking more records on any survivors to understand what he was dealing with, he visits a captive archivist from the Botaan Archives, named Sendii Vaal. By interrogating Vaal, Maccon learns that when the Empire rose, Emperor Palpatine learned that Botaan housed a large quantity of crystals and very valuable ore that was required for the Empire's weapons. Vaal reveals that the Botaan Cennial Council protested the Empire's acquisition, but the Imperial Society fought the Cennial Council on its legitimacy. Only when the odds turned against the Imperial Society, it was that the Empire intervened. When asked who led the Cennial Council's forces into battle, Vaal reveals it was a Guardian of the Whills named Kian Shun. Knowing exactly who that was, Maccon relays this information to Agent Streeve who orders his troops to move house to house, even to slaughter anyone who resists. Vaal warns that the insurgents know what the Empire has here and that they won't stop until they found what they are looking for. TK-XTERM in the meantime has located the mainframe through one of the ID-9 Scan Droids and heads there, but runs into a group of Stormtroopers. Securing the area, TK-XTERM reveals his true motives killing all of the Stormtroopers in the mainframe room, before locating the server he was looking for and starting the download. TK-XTERM then contacts The Mentor, telling him he has found the data and that he is ready to transmit, but right at that moment Streeve orders a full lockdown and shutdown of communications, disconnecting TK-XTERM from his call. The Mentor manages to assure him an extraction team is on the way. Shun in his hiding spot is meditating and feels the carnage happening in the settlement around him, but can't do anything about it when he is thrown of his concentration by the arrival of the insurgents meant to extract TK-XTERM led by a man named Kuy Vaal, saying they are there to assist him. Agreeing to help them out for the purpose of the Rebellion, Shun tells them he may have found a way in. Issue 4: Infiltrator #4 Kian Shun reveals the way into the Imperial complex on Botaan, an underwater entrance loosely protected. However as weapons will be rendered ineffective within the water, they'll have to make to do with makeshift weapons from within the base. Getting inside is not the most difficult thing, but they come past a reinforced door. Kuy Vaal contacts TK-XTERM, who sends a ID-9 Scan Droid, that controls the controls to allow them in. However they are discovered by Stormtroopers and have to fight their way out of the section, which in turn alerts Garr Maccon who comes down to the sections. However when Shun becomes aware of Maccon appearing there, he locks himself in while Vaal and his men continue on. Shun goes into meditation, waiting on Maccon to arrive. Kuy continues his search for TK-XTERM, but suddenly splits up from the rest of the group. Maccon arrives to find Shun sitting and waiting for him. Shun says he can feel the connection of Maccon with the Natural Force of Botaan, a feat well hidden from the Empire, something that would have been frowned upon by the Emperor. Maccon admits it, but also shuns his own father for abandoning him and admits he killed his father after his betrayal to the ideals of the Republic and Botaan. Now realizing Maccon's father is in fact Efra Maccon, a former Jedi Master, Shun realizes that Maccon cannot be turned back the conventional way and engages him with his staff. In the meantime, the remainder of the group finds TK-XTERM locked in battle with Stormtroopers, while Kuy Vaal seeks through the various levels of prison cells of the complex. Finally finding what he seeks, it is revealed to be Sendii Vaal, then revealed to be his father. Here however he is confronted by Agent Streeve, who calls him by his name and a designation, revealing that Kuy once was a Stormtrooper in service of the Empire. Kuy and Agent Streeve clash and fight, but Streeve comes out victorious before revealing that it had to be faith that a former Stormtrooper came back and then shoots and kills Sendii. Kuy learns over the comlink that TK-XTERM has been safeguarded and that they can leave, but Kuy feels it is not over yet. Shun and Maccon still fight on and Shun attempts to tell him more of Botaan, how in the Clone Wars, this very complex was once a hideout for the peacefull Botanian people when the Separatists attacked the planet and how Master Maccon was send here by the Jedi Council to secure a truce. His father was a hero, not a traitor. Maccon calls him a liar and strikes him right in the chest and head, saying the Empire will always prevail. Issue 5: Infiltrator #5 The personal battles were not over yet, Kuy Vaal was still staring down Agent Streeve after he killed Kuy's father Sendii Vaal, and Garr Maccon and Kian Shun were still locked in battle. Streeve taunts Vaal, telling him he will always remain a soldier of the Empire and he will always kill whoever he is ordered. In furious rage Kuy cuts him down with a pipe and points his blaster at him. Streeve tells him that he will never be truely free. A transmission comes in from the team that picked up TK-XTERM, informing them that they have secured a way out. As Vaal doubts what to do the fight between Shun and Maccon is at a standstill as well. Shun attempts to get Maccon over to his side, as Garr's father was a Jedi Master, but Maccon doesn't want to turn against the Empire right away. Shun puts him down once more and asks Maccon to allow him to show him what the legacy of Master Maccon is, what he built and not just on Botaan. At first Garr attempts to fight back, but he gives in at last and Shun deactivates the chamber locks where they were in. They then escape and come across the room where Kuy held his blaster against Streeve. Shun tells Kuy to let Streeve go, he is not worth killing. Vaal takes revenge for his father's death and kills Streeve after all before escaping together with Garr and Shun. Governor Jirec Sann arrives at the gates as a shuttle escapes the Imperial complex. Sann demands to know how all of this happened and what the insurgents took. When one of the advisors arrive with a total datamine of what was taken, he widens his eyes as he demands to be put in touch with the Emperor, telling him its a matter of the Empire's security. The shuttle lands within a settlement far away from the complex that had known to be a site of the Clone Wars, where Rebel agent Bria Tharen is waiting on them. She asks Kuy whether they got what they needed and Kuy confirms this. Kian and Bria meet and are revealed to have been romantically involved at one point, with a clear romantic spark still existing between them. As Bria takes Kuy, TK-XTERM and the others aboard the Starscream II, but Shun holds Garr back. He tells Bria he'll catch up with them later at Point Stark. He is going to show Garr what he meant with the legacy that Master Maccon left behind. Bria nods understandably and flies off with the Starscream II. Shun tells Garr they will take his Sapphire Hawk to Tython, where Master Maccon built the Dark Reach. As they fly off, they have to fight off some of the advance forces of the Empire, but finally managed to jump to Hyperspace. In a tag ending scene, Bria Tharen arrives on Dantooine, the site of a hidden Rebel base, where she arrives to ask her allies for help for the operation coming up. As she relies what information they have sofar, Mon Mothma admits she cannot commit to the operation. As Bria leaves, she is met by Hera Syndulla and Chopper, asking where they need to sign up. Series Allegiance trilogy Defector - Shadow Agent - Rogues Shadow Rebellion Infiltrator - The Dark Reach - The Gathering